


i do like you.

by pinkgrapefruit



Series: i do like you. [2]
Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: F/F, University AU, lesbians!!!, noone knows who it belongs to, the author has never been to new york, there is a ct, they all share a flat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:01:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23266639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkgrapefruit/pseuds/pinkgrapefruit
Summary: It’s their Junior year of university. Nicky is on the semester abroad in France. Jackie is spending the year teaching English in Iran for her degree. Jan is gearing up to her first Off-Broadway show and Gigi is trying not to redecorate the flat to fill the hole in her heart. Oh and there’s a cat. No one remembers who it belongs to.
Relationships: Jan Sport/Jackie Cox, Nicky Doll/Gigi Goode
Series: i do like you. [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1679017
Comments: 20
Kudos: 63





	i do like you.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to try and figure out these characters and I thought this was the best forward! let me know what you think <3

_ And I don't like it when you're never home _

_ And I don't like it when I'm sleeping alone _

_ And I pick up the phone just to call you again _

_ You never say never but you never say when _

Gigi tosses and turns in the double bed that feels so empty now that she’s its only inhabitant. New York City sunrise is filtering through the blinds in thick, warm stripes, making it harder and harder to forget that she is alone. She rolls onto her back, smoothing the covers on her body where they have become ruched during the night, and stares at the crack in the ceiling, reminiscing about the time Nicky tried to replace the light fitting, but ended up creating web-like fractures in the paintwork. She allows herself to exhale a chuckle at the memory of her normally poised girlfriend covered in plaster dust, waving a screwdriver.

Gigi flops onto her front so she can scroll through her messages, finds the good morning text Nicky sent when she woke up four hours ago, and fires back a response. Makes it sweet, but not saccharine, wanting, but not needy. She toes the line of ‘I love you’ without being overbearing, because she knows how hard it is to want someone, but not be able to hold them close and breathe in honeysuckle and lavender from their hair.

It’s only seven when she drags herself out of bed, tossing the comforter in a way she hopes will make it look clean, without being bothered with the arduous task of pulling the sheets taut. Jan and Jackie’s room faces west, so there is no light seeping from under the door, so she busies herself with feeding their cat and putting last night's dishes away. Two plates, two bowls, one mug, as she fills the other with lemon and ginger tea. By the time Jan wakes up, Nicky is on her two o’clock lunch break, and Gigi is whispering broken French down the line to try and feel connected. It’s the twentieth of March, which, by the countdown on the wall, means there are only sixty-three days until they breathe the same air again. If she catches Jan staring wistfully at it too - she doesn’t mention it.

She ends the call with a promise to call again and she knows they will try. They always try. 

_ But I do, and I do like you _

_ And I do, and I do like you _

Nicky sets down the phone with a sigh and looks over the quad. Parsons is beautiful in Paris, but she manages to miss the feeling of New York. She’s taken the prestigious offer of a semester abroad to be able to see family and experience the culture she’d missed so very much, but looking around it all now, she feels like maybe she misjudged it. Yes, she had been missing family, but now she misses the family she created in the States. It took a year to cement her roots firmly in the US soil, to build friendships and relationships, and find a woman who melts her heart, and now she is five hours out of the loop. 

She lets her chin fall onto her hand as her other fumbles to unlock her phone, firing off a text to Jackie, who she knows must be feeling it too. It will be almost six p.m. over there, and - doing the time conversions in her head - Jan will have just woken up.

Paying quickly, she grabs her bag and starts to walk back to the apartment she is leasing. It’s strangely uncomfortable to be back in a country you left. She feels like a foreigner, even though her blood runs clearer here than it ever did in New York. She can breathe more, see the stars if she tries, but she is tied to the floor like a lead balloon. 

She sends Gigi a text wishing her a good day, and then buries her phone in her bag, turning back towards the city. She needs cake.

_ And I don't like it when you call me out _

_ And I don't like it when you're putting me down _

_ Just picking me up on a Saturday night _

_ All 'cause you had to, had to be right _

Jackie responds to Nicky under the table. Her fingers deftly type out condolences and words of wisdom as the rest of her body stays focused on the meal in front of her. She’s having dinner with her host family from her high school exchange trip and she is pretending to be anyone other than herself.

They’re lovely people, they really are, but in a country as famously homophobic as Iran, nowhere is safe. So she tugs on her Hijab and goes back to eating.

By the time dinner is finished, it is almost half-past ten, and Jackie finds herself begging for one of the older sons to escort her across the suburbs of Tehran to her apartment. She arrives home face flushed and completely exhausted, thanking the son in Farsi before triple locking the door and removing the Hijab. She leans back against the wall, hand reaching into a hidden pocket to find her phone - looking forward to the way it will light up with Jan’s face when she turns it on.

She’s not disappointed as texts flood through, ranging from what she had for breakfast to the weather in New York City. It’s a huge comfort for them both to text their random thoughts. It’s a level of connectivity they didn’t think they could experience on different sides of the planet.

Jackie hums to herself quietly as she flicks through her old voice messages, finding one from their freshman year and pressing play. She listens to Jan sing through twenty minutes of the Mean Girls Soundtrack while she removes her subtle makeup and changes into a pair of men’s baseball shorts and an oversized t-shirt for sleep. When it hits half-eleven, she calls Jan, knowing that she’ll be done with classes for the day and heading to their favourite smoothie place. She falls asleep to gossip about the performance movement coach.

_ And I do, and I do like you _

_ And I do, and I do like you _

Jan listens to the quiet, even breaths of her girlfriend halfway across the world. She closes her eyes sometimes, when the work she’s trying to complete feels a little too arduous, and tries to imagine that Jackie is laying in bed next to her. She can roll over and see the glow of their alarm clock send shadows over the gentle curves and ridges of her face. The way her baby hairs flatten on her forehead in a way that makes her look younger than twenty-one.

She’s taken out of her daydream by a server trying to clear her smoothie away and she smiles apologetically, gathering her laptop and leaving a dollar on the table. She checks the time on her dad's old watch between running across roads and down alleys, before finally arriving at the worn down little cabaret theatre being rented out for the latest show. It’s her first off-broadway show, and as she watches the posters go up outside - her name under the lead character - she feels a pang of longing. She wishes so deeply to not be alone in this moment - the taste bitter under her tongue, a raspberry seed stuck between her teeth.

But Jackie is not there, so she enters through the side door and gets to work, rehearsing the final scenes.

It’s eleven p.m. when she slides into bed in New York, firing off a good morning text to Jackie, as her early riser of a girlfriend sends a good night text from across the ocean. She sends a photo of herself tucked in and receives a bleary-eyed photo back of Jackie, comforter pulled up to her nose.

She can almost picture them in the same bed, and it leaves her to fall asleep with a smile on her face.

_ Why does the street get louder when it gets dark? _

_ Why do I feel that sound in the pounding in the shape of my heart? _

_ Oooh, oooh, oooh _

_ Facetime is not a substitute for the way your hand fits in mine _ , Gigi thinks, as she sinks further into her couch. The calling tone burns her ears as she waits for Nicky to just pick up the phone. It’s been more and more like this - harder and harder to hold onto the notion that she’ll be home in just a few more weeks. She’s just not sure Nicky will recognise this as home when she finally returns.

Nicky picks up on what she is sure would be the last ring, and the noise sends floods of relief through the American, who tries to sit up straight. She tries to look less overjoyed to see her girlfriend's tired eyes, feel less warmed by the quiet, but faintly affectionate tone with which she drawls the two-syllable name to make it four.

They exchange ‘I miss yous’ and hold the ‘i love yous’ on the tips of their tongues for a time when togetherness will feel more like togetherness, and less like loneliness. Then they let the silence hang.

“Do you want to come home?” Gigi asks, and maybe it’s not quite how she meant it, but the tone borders on accusatory, and she’s too tired of censorship and questions that go nowhere, but she looks into Nicky’s pixelated eyes and realises maybe she’s made a mistake.

“Why would you ask that?” Nicky replies, hurt and offended. “Why would you act like that?” She’s referring to the petulant lip, the time between texts that’s been dragging on of late, and the way she refuses to look at her, really look at her. But Gigi cannot read minds.

“Look like what?! Look like what, Nick, like I miss you? Like I really fuckin’ miss you?” If the connection was better, Nicky might have seen the tear in the corner of her eye. She might have heard her voice was cracking in a way that wasn’t static.

“I do miss you. I do want to come home,” Nicky finally responds. And she sounds defeated and tired and like the twenty-three days left are out of her control - which they are. She worries her bottom lip with her teeth, fingers finding the bottom of the Vintage t-shirt she stole from Gigi before she left.

Gigi runs her fingers through the front of her hair, letting the dark brown locks fall in front of her face in a moment of frustration. 

“I don’t want to end this call angry,” she states, her tone measured and closed off.

Nicky nods. “Twenty-three days, baby.”

“Twenty-three days.”

_ And I don't like it when I feel I've been had _

_ And I don't like it when I go to bed mad _

_ Just to wake up again in the middle of the night _

_ Why do you leave, baby, why do we fight? _

“Baby!” Jan squeals across the phone as Jackie picks up with a wide smile and a melting heart. 

“Baby,” Jackie repeats, mirroring the happiness in tone and the twinkle in the eyes. Jan scrunches her nose at the term of endearment and it makes Jackie chuckles with mirth. “How’s the show going?” She enquires, knowing that’s why Jan called - not that she needed a reason, but judging by the time, she’s just finished a show, and she looks like she’s glowing, so all things considered… 

“I GOT SCOUTED!” Jan screams in a way that makes Jackie worry for her neighbours. She hears something hit the wall in their apartment and assumes it’s Gigi’s way of telling the blonde to please shut up. Still, she can’t stop herself from welling up with pride.

“You deserve this, love. I am so proud of you,” she gushes, one hand running over her eyes to try and stop the tears threatening to escape. Jan is openly crying on the other end of the connection, and one of them needs to stay strong. “I love you, baby.” She repeats because it’s all she can say or do to stop herself from booking an early flight home just to give her a massive hug.

“We are gonna damn celebrate when you get home,” Jan tries to assert, but she’s laughing and crying at the same time, so it’s not very effective. “Twenty-three days.” 

“I’m expecting a full welcome committee,” Jackie jibes, smiling still.

“Will me and Gigi do?” Jan giggles, snot dripping from her nose as she tries to hide it from Jackie, who just lets out a quiet snort of laughter.

“That sounds perfect. Go to bed, baby. I love you and I’m proud of you.”

“Good morning Jackie, love you,” Jan says like it’s a promise.

“Good night Jan.”

_ But I do, and I do like you _

_ And I do, and I do like you _

Gigi’s been pacing for twenty minutes when Jan finally throws a cushion at her. She cradles her coffee while sitting on the sofa and her eyes keep flicking to the clock - watching it tick through the minutes. They have half an hour before they need to leave, but it feels like months.

“Bitch, you’re making me feel seasick,” she states, looking disapproving as the taller girl picks up a piece of toast before setting it down again. Too excited to eat.

“How are you so calm?” Gigi enquires, eyes narrowing in mock suspicion as Jan continues to sip her coffee instead of letting it go cold. Peanut - the apartment cat - is curled around her feet. 

“Unlike you, I told my girlfriend I loved her a year and a bit ago, and am therefore very secure in my relationship.” She pauses, running her fingers through her hair, “I’ve not had to tiptoe around it since she’s been gone.” Gigi gulps, eyes flicking around the room. She’s well aware that’s what’s been going on - they all are - but that doesn’t mean Jan’s bluntness didn’t hurt a little bit. Jan and Jackie got together a month before she and Nicky finally did, and they’re all approaching two years together. Gigi and Nicky are just a little bit - very - emotionally cautious.

“Fine,” she relents. “But you’re driving.” Jan laughs, dislodging herself from the cat and grabbing the keys to the rental car off the countertop. 

“Sounds right.”

_ Why does the street get louder when it gets dark? _

_ Why do I feel that sound in the pounding in the shape of my heart? _

_ Oooh, oooh, oooh _

Nicky’s flight comes in first and as the plane prepares to land, she shifts nervously in her seat. She’s excited, maybe a little anxious, and all of her nails on her left hand have been bitten down to stubs. She taps her right-hand nails on the arm of her seat until the businessman next to her gives her a scathing look. She knows from his interactions with the air hostesses that he’s French, so she drops a cursory ‘Pardon’ before she resumes watching New York spiral below her.

She lets her head fall back onto the headrest as the plane comes to a stop on the runway. Nicky pulls out her phone to check her long blonde hair as she pulls it out from her customary travel low ponytail. She’s dressed in a simple pair of light grey jogging bottoms and a white t-shirt tied at the waist, Parson’s hoodie tied around her carry-on.

Gigi had told her they’d meet her in Baggage Claim before they go to Jackie’s terminal, so she walks through the archway into the luggage carousel expectantly. Her smile soon drops, though, when she realises they aren’t there. Her hand curls into a fist, nails digging into the soft skin of her palm as her teeth worry the inside of her cheek.

She jumps at the feeling of two hands on her hips and turns with a start, before suddenly flinging herself onto Gigi’s waiting body. She lets herself relax into the hold of the taller girl, feeling more grounded than she has in months, safe and at home. Nicky doesn’t even realise she is crying until she pulls slightly out of the embrace just to map Gigi’s face. It’s only been four months, but she looks older, the bags under her eyes are a little more prominent - she has a new acne scar on her chin and a couple more freckles on the apples of her cheeks, but she looks perfect. She puts a hand on each cheek and kisses her in a way that connects them deeper than just skin. It’s full of tears and longing, but she needs it more than oxygen, and she only pulls away when she realises that last statement was undoubtedly false, taking in a deep breath while Gigi just studies her. She lets the brunette press her lips to her forehead and smiles at the thought that Gigi didn’t think she missed this.

Nicky feels Gigi’s lips move on her forehead and she doesn’t need to ask to know what it means.

“Me too,” she whispers, “I love you too.”

The spell is broken as Jan coughs behind them. She’s got one hand on Nicky’s giant suitcase and the other on her hip, as she hollers about how this is a lovely reunion, but only one of them has really tried to keep Nicky’s goddamn cat alive, and Nicky slips out of her girlfriends grasp to say a long-awaited hello to one of her best friends.

  
  


_ And I go away, but when I come home again _

_ We'll find a way to go back and rebegin _

Jackie stretches her legs out in the seat, feeling one of her knees crack as she straightens it. After just over eighteen hours travelling - including two connections - she’s finally about to touch down in New York, and she’s beyond happy. The thought of standing in a busy street and just breathing in cool air makes her heart flutter. The idea of the neon lights and the smell of her favourite bodega and a blueberry muffin, god, she could swoon. And Jan.

The smell of her perfume has long since faded on the old Varsity t-shirt she stole back in January, but she can still imagine the shea and sea salt infused blend. She cannot wait to bury her face in her hair and hold her hand and sleep with their legs intertwined under the covers.

She steps off the plane with a sigh of relief, and she feels like she is home. As welcoming as Tehran was - as much as it wormed its way into her heart, New York is where she feels her soul relax.

_ Back way to the stars _

_ Back into our hearts _

_ We can win _

Jackie’s barely stepped into arrivals before she’s jumped on by a short blonde woman, tears streaked down her face in seconds. Jan silently thanks the gods that she kept up her strength training in Tehran, regretful that she’d not even considered the outcome where she’d have knocked her girlfriend to the floor.

Luckily, Jackie can hold her petite love up, legs wrapped around her waist and face buried in the crook of her neck. Nicky hurries over to grab her bags and takes them back to Gigi, while Jackie just focuses on getting them both back to the relative safety of their friends, without walking into any suitcases or unsuspecting humans. 

“I missed you so fucking much,” she hears Jan whisper into her neck and she smiles, twisting her head to press a chaste kiss to her hair. Jan drops her legs, sliding down til she’s standing with her arms wrapped tightly around Jackie’s waist, head pressed into her chest while the brunette burrows her face into her hair, chasing the shea and sea salt, and the smell of her grapefruit shampoo. 

She looks up at the other couple briefly to wink at them, and they smile in understanding.

_ Why does the street get louder when it gets dark? _

_ Why do I feel that sound in the pounding in the shape of my heart? _

Nicky places her head on Gigi’s naked collarbone, fingers tracing patterns onto her sternum as they both relish in the way the room feels like a vintage polaroid. It’s warm and comfortable and so full of love it’s almost choking. The covers pool around their legs as Gigi uses one finger to lift the blonde’s chin up to meet her - lips connecting as Nicky’s back arches in the moonlight. Her hair cascades over one shoulder and Gigi’s knee rises between the other girl’s legs.

Jackie rests her cheek on Jan’s hip, smiling gently as the blonde runs her fingers through her hair. She places a soft kiss on her navel before she pulls herself up to the top of the bed, laying on her back so Jan can curl around her like a cat. “That felt like a good celebration,” Jan whispers into her favourite point on her neck, and Jackie hums in response. The moonlight falls through the window leaving a pattern of shadows on their intertwined legs.

“G’NIGHT,” Nicky yells and the entire apartment bursts into laughter.

_ Oooh, oooh, oooh _

**Author's Note:**

> don't be afraid to comment!


End file.
